Candy Cane Lawn Flamingos

December 21, 20168 Comments

It was 5 ° out when I took pictures of these candy cane lawn flamingos. I had to wrap up in my scarf and hat and throw on my gloves between pictures. It was quite the sight, but I got it done and got to go inside to a hot cup of tea.

I always wonder what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in warmer weather. I love the winter and I love snow but I’m forever curious what Christmas in California feels like or Florida or anywhere that isn’t currently blanketed in snow at the moment.

This DIY was definitely inspired by a warmer climate, but these candy cane lawn flamingos look great stuck in a pile of snow as well. They are simple to make and add a bright, whimsical touch to your front lawn to welcome any guests you have coming this holiday.

I love candy canes and I love flamingos so why not combine the two?? I would just suggest not to eat these guys. The instructions on how to make these candy cane flamingos can be found below.

Materials for the Flamingos:

White and red spray paint
Plastic lawn flamingos
Blue painters tape

How to make candy cane lawn flamingos:

Start by taping off the beak, eyes, and first half of the legs with blue painters tape.
Spray paint the body of the lawn flamingo white. This took a couple of coats for me – I don’t know if this was due to the extreme cold or it was just the spray paint I used. Let dry completely up to 24 hours.
Take your blue painters tape and tape off stripes on the body of the flamingo.
Spray paint the flamingo red. Let dry completely.
Take off painters tape and stick your flamingo in your lawn!

What a fun and unique decoration to add to your front lawn for Christmas! Let us know in the comments below how you have decorated for Christmas this year!

And if we don’t stop by again before the holidays – we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy Hanukkah!

Marble Salt Dough Ornaments

December 7, 2016December 22, 2016Leave a comment

Learn how to make these marble salt dough ornaments to decorate your tree this year!

One of my absolute favorite things to do during the holidays is to decorate the Christmas tree. I love pulling out each of our carefully wrapped ornaments and remembering different stories about them. Sometimes the story is as simple as I remember picking that up at Target with my friend (Target has the best ornaments, fyi). Sometimes you pull out an ornament and laugh and remember the time when your dog stole it off the tree and ate half of its leg or ear (this is a lot of our ornaments).

But the best stories are when you stumble across an ornament that you made yourself. Most of mine are from when I was 5 years old and it is just a giant piece of cardboard with my hand print painted on it. Talented as I was back then I think my ornament DIY game has stepped up a bit.

Today we are sharing marble salt dough ornaments to create fun holiday memories for years to come as you pull them out next year or the year after to decorate your Christmas tree. Maybe one will have a missing limb from a large dog that eats everything (several of mine already do). Maybe one will be the one your little sibling made and they will be able to remember it when they are older.

Either way, these marble salt dough ornaments are simple to make and involve ingredients you should already have at home. If you enjoy marbling with nail polish you should definitely give this craft a go. We’ve been known to marble a few things before so we thought it might be fun for Christmas to take simple salt dough ornaments to the next level.

Materials:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Baking sheet
Oven
Straw
Nail polish in various colors
A bin or container you can ruin
Towel/rag
Ribbon

Making the salt dough ornaments:

Start by making the salt dough. For this you will mix together the flour, salt and water until it forms a dough. Note: we halved the recipe here as it seemed to make a lot a lot of ornaments with a full cup of flour but if you have a big party I would recommend to double our recipe.
Once the salt dough is ready sprinkle some flour on a work surface and some on your rolling pin and roll out your dough. We rolled ours to about 1/4 inch thickness but you can keep yours as thick or as thin as you like. It is definitely easier to cut out the shapes with a slightly thicker dough, though.
Start cutting out your shapes with cookie cutters or drawing your own using a knife. We made some letter ornaments by just gently cutting into the dough with a knife – this was a bit difficult on curvier letters so I would recommend getting a stencil if you want them to look nice.
Place your ornament on a baking sheet and using the tip of a straw, poke a hole into where you want it to hang.
Once all your ornaments are cut out pop them into the oven at 200°F for 2-3 hours. Note: you are basically drying out the dough so this takes a while. I think mine were in the oven for about 2.5 hours. Alternatively you could leave them out to air dry but this would take a really long time.

Marbling the salt dough ornaments:

I highly suggest doing this outside. Get a bin or container you can ruin and fill it with room temperature water.
Have your nail polish open and ready as well as your ornaments easily reachable because once you pour the nail polish you will have to work quickly.
Lay out a towel/rag for the ornaments to dry on after you dip them in the nail polish.
Gently pour the color or colors of nail polish you want to use into your bin. If you want a thick marble effect use more nail polish but if you want it thinner then only pour a small amount of nail polish.
Quickly take your ornament and dip it into the water face down and pull it out. If you are unhappy with how the marble came out you can always dip it in the water again.
Let dry on your towel/rag.
If you still have a good amount of nail polish in your water quickly dip another ornament in, otherwise pour more nail polish and repeat the process.
Since you basically had to dry out the salt dough and now got it wet again you will have to let it sit out in a dry environment for about 24 hours.
Take a ribbon and loop it through the hole to hang up your ornament.

Now you have plenty of marble salt dough ornaments that you can pull out next year and remember when you made them. These salt dough ornaments would also make wonderful gifts to give to your friends and family.

Let us know in the comments below if you have any favorite ornaments or holiday traditions!

DIY marble salt dough ornaments | Popcorn & Chocolate

Now I just have to keep Olive from eating them all…

Holiday Gift Guides & Free Printable

December 3, 2016November 30, 2016Leave a comment

The holiday season is upon us, which means you have to start planning out your gifts for everyone. We’ve made this super easy for you by creating a free printable to write out what you are getting everyone and two holiday gift guides to give you some ideas of what to get everyone. Sometimes present buying can be a lot of fun, especially when you know exactly what you are getting someone but, other times, it can be a huge struggle. We feel ya. This is why we’ve put together some fun gift ideas for all the men and women in your life. These gifts are mostly all under $50 so they won’t break the bank either. 2016 gift guide for men | popcorn & chocolate

From left to right: Peppermint snow tube, Drake pin, Desk bag toss, Camera strap, Bon Iver record, Beanie, This must be the place banner, Woven wall hanging, Hot steve spices, Bandana, Flannel button down, Cocktail carry on kit, Stranger Things pin, Bull wine holder, Giant jack, Slippers

And now onto the gifts for the women in your life:

2016 gift guide for women | Popcorn & Chocolate

From left to right: Eye mask, Woven wall hanging, Embroidery wall decor, Merlot sweatshirt, Mug, Flamingo pin, Margarita pin, Happiness planner, Motivational pencils, Pineapple measuring cups, Blue scarf, Retail therapy purse, Pineapple keychain, Wine socks, Teapot, Candle

Go ahead and download our printable gift list and start planning your gift buying now! Let us know in the comments below what YOU want for this holiday season!

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White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Bark

December 16, 2015December 16, 201513 Comments

I always love a good popcorn and chocolate mixture. I mean hello, we are Popcorn AND Chocolate. Although, I have to admit these days we have been heavy on the pop front with less choc. But, have no fear, we are fixing that right now by giving you this delicious chocolatey recipe perfect for the holidays! We give you white chocolate peppermint popcorn bark. Say that 3 times fast… and then go make this delicious bark and eat it 3 times fast. No, actually, bad advice, please do not eat this super fast. We want you to savor it and enjoy it. Plus, we don’t want any liability issues with chocking hazards.Okay now that we have established you are going to savor this recipe, we should probably tell you what is in it. Well, you have all your main snacking options (popcorn and chocolate) and to give it a fun festive flair we added some big ol’ chunks of candy canes.This white chocolate peppermint popcorn bark is full of flavor. The smooth white chocolate melts in your mouth while the popcorn and peppermint add a nice crunch that makes you go back for more and more and more. Plus, look how festive and pretty it is! Plus, plus, it is super easy to make. So go make some right now!No seriously, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, you probably need the recipe first.Ingredients:

White chocolate bar
1 candy cane
A big handful of popcorn

Directions:

Put some parchment paper onto a baking sheet or a flat surface you can transfer to the freezer.
Melt your chocolate – you can either do this in the microwave or using a double broiler. We stuck to the easy microwave method.
Once all your chocolate is melted pour it onto the parchment paper. Use a spoon to make it into one even layer.
Smash the candy cane in a plastic bag so you get candy cane crumbles.
Sprinkle the candy cane crumbles onto the chocolate layer. Break apart your popcorn and then add that on top.
Stick your bark into the fridge or freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden. Once hardened, you can either eat it all then or store in an airtight container.

This holiday bark is so festive and easy to make you have no excuse not to whip some up right now!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Garland & Gift Tags

December 12, 2015November 22, 20167 Comments

It doesn’t quite feel like Christmas until you see your first ugly Christmas sweater. They have been out in full force this year. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good ugly sweater. In fact I’ve always wanted to throw an ugly Christmas sweater party just so I have an excuse to buy one (like this one or this one or this). What’s not to love? Tinsel, pom-poms, bells, Christmas sayings! Give me all of it! The tackier the better. In order to get a little ugly into our holiday we created this ugly Christmas sweater garland, which also can work as funny gift tags for your presents. It’s probably even more fun than just going out and buying a Christmas sweater because you get to fill your own sweater with whatever tacky items your heart desires. To make these sweaters, you will need to rummage through your craft supplies and pull out any random bits and bobs that you have, such as pipe cleaners, bells, ribbon, felt, string, anything! You will also need craft paper. We found a stencil online by just Google searching sweater outline and then traced that onto white paper and cut it out. Next, we traced our stencil on some grey cardstock. We did this a couple of times to get the number of sweaters we wanted. Now is the fun part – to decorate! Each of our sweaters have different decorations on them. For some we outlined the sweaters with patterned scrapbook paper. Others, we traced a Santa or Reindeer image from online and then colored them in on the sweaters. For the wreath we used a silver pipe cleaner and glued it to the center of the sweater and added a bow to it. We also stamped on some of the sweaters. It is really up to you how ugly you want to make your sweater! We also made some smaller ugly sweaters using the same process for gift tags. These gift tags add a fun and festive flare to any present! Plus they are super easy and enjoyable to make. Once we started, we couldn’t stop making them and are still having ideas on what would be silly to add to them!Bonus points – bring an ugly Christmas sweater gift tag to your next ugly Christmas sweater party!

Now tell us – have you gone to an ugly Christmas sweater party? Do you like ugly sweaters or are you over it? What would you decorate your ugly sweater with?

DIY Christmas Sign

December 9, 2015November 22, 20161 Comment

You know that section of Target right when you walk in that has little gems for $1 or $3? Welp, that section is my downfall. I cannot resist picking up a fun holiday decoration and, well if it’s only $3, what harm does it do?? Fast forward a couple of years of always picking up that $3 item, and somehow you start to realize you might not want to put that item in your cart this time. This sign was based off of something we saw in said section. However, instead of paying for it, we decided to use our crafty little brains and DIY our own sign. To make this fun little sign all you need is some foam poster board (cardboard works too), some letter stencils or vinyl letters (which is what we used), and paint! Cute reindeer to hang beside the sign are optional, although highly recommended. We got these cuties at T.J.Maxx… another store I can’t resist!First we outlined an arrow shape onto poster board and cut it out using an x-acto knife. Next we laid down our vinyl letter stickers to spell out santa, reindeer, and elves on each of the arrows. Now time to paint! We painted two coats over each of the arrows.

As a bonus step that isn’t necessary, we outline the letters once they were completely dry with a thin sharpie so they would stand out more. Finally, peel off the letter stencils to reveal your beautiful sign!To hang the sign we taped string to the backs of the arrows, but you could also hang them individually or even put them on a festive pole! Which way should I go?

Tell us – do you have any holiday decorations up? Do you get sucked into the $1/$3 bin at Target or is it just us?

Winter Fun List

December 6, 201511 Comments

Hello December! I can’t believe it is already December, but then again I can’t believe it is any month at any given time so I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised anymore. I was long waiting for December to approach as winter is my favorite season. We might have already put up some holiday decor, which has heightened my much anticipated arrival of winter. Since we over in the Popcorn and Chocolate household are all about the holidays and enjoying each season to the fullest, we thought we would share a little fun winter checklist. It’s got all the things we love to do to get us in the holiday spirit. We also thought we would share it a wee bit before winter for any of you who are already bursting to watch Christmas movies and bake gingerbread just like us.Let us know what your favorite thing to do in the winter is in the comments below! We would love to know!

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2014December 25, 20141 Comment

Haley’s pretty tree

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderfully relaxed and fun Christmas day. Rose and I are both happy to spend time with our families and enjoy some delicious homemade treats all day long. We hope to see you in the New Year with some more Popcorn and Chocolate goodies!

Olive wanted to say Merry Christmas with her new ornament toy!

Rose’s colorful tree

Holiday Gift Tags

December 7, 20143 Comments

Happy countdown to Christmas! We’re starting to get in the holiday spirit and thinking about how to wrap our presents in a fun and creative way.

Every year I like to come up with a fun and different way to wrap my presents for my family. Last year I made pop-out card gift tags for everyone. It’s a way to make all the presents you give unique, plus it makes it easy to identify which presents are from you when they’re all under the tree.

We decided to make gift tags that could be used not only for Christmas but for all sorts of occasions. We have a ton of stamps, washi, and fun shaped punches that we used to make each tag unique! These are so easy and fun to make. We used the traditional gift tag shape, though Haley was inspired to change up the tag shape up for a few.

You can get really creative with these and go all out, or you can always keep it simple, whatever your preference. Even just stamping letters would look nice. This craft is so simple and you could make some really fun stuff with just a few different colors of paper, some good markers or pens, and scissors. The stamps, punches, and washi add a personal touch to the tags, but are no means necessary to make some cute gift tags!

What you’ll need:

Colored paper (TJ Maxx always has a good set of 6×6 scrapbook paper that would be fun to use. We used this paper for our Advent Calendar)
Scissors
Glue
Stamps
Washi Tape
Metalic Pens (we used Gel pens)
Fun Shaped Punches
Hole Punch

What we did:

We started by cutting out a bunch of gift tags out of paper in different colors and sizes. You can either free hand the design of the gift tag like us, or trace an image from offline. For the designs on the tags we used several different methods. For some we stamped out simple shapes and would either leave them plain, or would color over them in metallic gel pens. Other tags we used washi tape to create stripes and other shapes. Lastly, we used punch out stamps to create unique designs, such as the snowflakes.

As you can see, we made all sorts of different designs such as ornaments, Christmas trees, stockings, presents, snowmen, tea cups, macaroons, and cupcakes. We also made ones that aren’t just for the holidays. These are some of the striped ones and others with a simple stamp or a cute cut out. Go wild and let your creative juices flow!

Christmas Advent Calendar

November 30, 2014November 22, 20162 Comments

We hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend full of lots of delicious Thanksgiving food. We sure did and now we get to have leftovers for the rest of the week! Pumpkin pie brownies for breakfast anyone?

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can look forward to Christmas and begin shamelessly decorating our apartment full of snowflakes and moose. So far we have hung up some Christmas lights and put out fun decorative pillows, but as Christmas approaches we are sure to add more!

Because tomorrow is the first day of December, we have a simple advent calendar that uses minimal supplies. All we bought for this project was a small 6×6 pack of scrapbook paper at T.J. Maxx for $3. This pack was from American Crafts and had some really cute pages that we just couldn’t resist. T.J. Maxx’s always has the best craft supplies for cheap. Along with the craft paper we just used some plain white paper to cut out the numbers.

What we did for this advent calendar was ripped out 25 pages from the scrapbook paper book and then laid them out on our floor in a Christmas tree shape. We decided we liked our tree to be taller rather than wide and so ended up with two rows of 5, two rows of 4, and then it went 3, 2, 1.

Once the tree was in a style we liked, we then traced numbers1-25 onto white paper and cut them out. Okay, we have to admit we first tried to free-hand the letters, which came out horrible, so we had to trace the numbers.

Now is the fun part – instead of creating a advent calendar that gives out a piece of candy or present each day, we decided to make ours interactive. We wrote down 25 different activities to do, so each day we flip up the day and reveal something we have to do that day.

Here are some examples: make hot chocolate, go ice skating, watch Elf. We thought this would be a fun activity to get us in the Christmas spirit and maybe even do some things we wouldn’t normally do, like go ice skating. Since we work during the day we broke up our weekends differently and had slightly more involved activities on those days. We stuck to the more simple tasks for the weekdays, such as making hot chocolate.

We wrote the activity on the back of piece of the paper, but you could put it hidden on the front as well. We mostly wanted to be able to use the paper again so we didn’t write on it.

We hope you enjoyed our advent calendar and let us know what activities you would put on your calendar! Happy December everyone!

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Tag: Christmas